


hello,

by burstaffinity



Series: because i love you [1]
Category: Xenoblade Chronicles, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Abuse, Alvis is Ontos (Xenoblade Chronicles), Implied/Referenced Character Death, Memory Alteration, Memory Loss, Misgendering, Multi, One-Sided Attraction, Physical Abuse, Verbal Abuse, minor shulk/alvis, one-sided galea/klaus and alvis/klaus tho neither alvis nor galea are happy about that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:35:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29174265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/burstaffinity/pseuds/burstaffinity
Summary: A researcher on Rhadamanthus befriends one of the artificial intelligence programs running the Trinity Processor.
Relationships: Alvis & Galea
Series: because i love you [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1922188
Comments: 11
Kudos: 37





	hello,

**Author's Note:**

> oh my GOD i am done with this i think this is the longest one shot i've ever written..... .. .. . Huge huge HUGE thanks to [countcarmine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/countcarmine), [Dragon_Falls](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragon_Falls/pseuds/Dragon_Falls), and [MachineryField](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MachineryField) for looking this over!!!

The red crystal sitting within the chest of the mechanical body laying before them: that one was “Ontos”, one of three cores that powered the supercomputer known as the Trinity Processor. All three cores had a body like this waiting for them outside the Processor, designed by the AIs that ran the cores, and based on how the AIs appeared within the simulation they lived in. So, the mechanical body laying before them bore the appearance of the AI running the Ontos: a slender young adult with tan skin, and shoulder length hair that, along with the eyes, were the same deep red hue as the Ontos core.

“Very good. You can open your eyes, at least. That’s a start.”

Professor Klaus – the only other human in the room besides herself – held up a pen.

“Can you follow this?” he asked.

He moved the pen to the right. The AI moved the body’s eyes to follow the pen’s trajectory, and again when Klaus moved the pen to the left. Up. Down. Diagonal.

“Excellent,” Klaus said, placing the pen in his breast pocket. “But perhaps that was too easy even for you. You are, apparently, the least developed of the AIs.”

Galea frowned, but withheld her verbal judgment. Heaven knows Klaus would get on her case if she interrupted him. She was probably overreacting, anyway. Klaus hadn’t said that in a condescending tone. He sounded as charming and friendly as he always did – though Galea often wondered if there was a hint of fatigue behind that joviality. In a rush to glue himself in front of the Trinity Processor, most like.

“Can you sit up?” Klaus asked the AI.

“Sit up…?” the AI responded, in an accent that was… foreign. North American?

“Yes,” Klaus replied. “You are presently laying down. Can you move your body so that you are sitting up like I am?”

“I…”

The AI closed the body’s eyes. Thinking. The AI pulled the body’s torso up, then swung the body’s legs over the bed on which the body had been resting.

Klaus laughed and clapped his hands. “Astounding! We aren’t out of the woods yet. We do need to teach you how to fight. But this is a superb beginning.” Klaus moved over to the AI, placing his hand on the body’s shoulder. “Perhaps some day you’ll be able to teach us humans how to control a mechanical body remotely.”

“That is a goal of this experiment, is it not?” the AI asked.

Klaus pushed the AI’s torso back against the bed. “We’ll run more tests tomorrow,” he said, lifting the AI’s legs back on the bed. “You will be available, won’t you, Galea?”

The AI looked at her.

“I… yes,” she replied, feeling herself take a faint step towards the bed. “Do you… know who we are?” she asked the AI.

“He is Professor Klaus,” the AI replied, looking at Klaus. “And you are--”

Klaus removed the Ontos core from the body’s chest before the AI could finish.

\---

“Do not forget, even though this one is slow on the uptake, all the AI within the Trinity Processor are highly intelligent. Do not to feed it any useless information.”

Klaus opened the door to the room where the AI sat within its robotic body. The Professor had run more motor tests, reporting that the AI had “excellent” control over the body. However, it was important that the body stay active for several hours in case the AI showed any signs of fatigue. The Professor did not have the time to monitor the AI for that long. Thus, he was handing that task to Galea.

“What do you want me to do?” she asked.

“Just monitor him,” Klaus responded.

Which… wasn’t the most detailed list of instructions, especially with his warning not to feed the AI “useless information”. Did he just want her to stare? Well, the AI had crafted a beautiful appearance, but admiring the body’s looks wouldn’t help the AI develop fine motor skills.

The AI watched her enter the room with the body’s wide, curious eyes. She turned towards the door – already shut. Klaus was gone. Off to play with his little toy – the Trinity Processor -- she presumed.

“You are… Galea,” the AI said.

“You remember what you were saying before you were cut off,” she replied, turning back to the AI. “And you are… Ontos?”

“Ontos?” the AI replied, moving the body’s hand to the red crystal on the body’s chest. “You are referring to the core?”

“Is that not your name as well?” she asked with a curious frown.

The AI shook the body’s head. “No. My name is Alvis. Ontos is simply the name of the core I run.”

“I see.”

The AI… no, _Alvis_ tilted the body’s head, the face showing signs of confusion. “Was it not wise to give ourselves unique names?”

Galea grinned softly. “Pay me no mind. Do the other cores have different names as well?”

“Yes. The Pneuma core is controlled by Mythra. The Logos core is controlled by Malos.”

Galea’s eyelids fluttered in disbelief. “ _M-Malos_?!”

Alvis frowned. “Is that… an incorrect name?”

“Well, that’s their name, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but your response--”

“It’s just… Malos means ‘bad’ doesn’t it?”

Alvis nodded. “Correct. It stands for ‘bad’. Malos seems very proud of that name.”

Galea spat out a laugh. “Really?”

“Yes. He seems… ‘amused’, by it? As you are? Is amusement the correct term? I apologize. The development of my emotions and personality are not as advanced as my siblings.”

“Do you know why?”

“No. But I hope it does not hinder what we have set to accomplish.”

“You and the other AI are highly advanced. I’m sure it won’t be a problem.” She offered Alvis a reassuring smile – which they seemed surprised to see. She leaned back against the wall, scanning the mostly barren room for anything that might spark an idea _._ “I’m supposed to monitor you for fatigue, but… truth be told, it would be easy for you to get fatigued just sitting around here doing nothing.”

She looked back at Alvis – which struck her with an idea.

“Wait here,” she said, turning back towards the door. “I’ll see if it’s okay for me to walk you around the lab, at least.”

\---

The Professor was, predictably, glued in front of the Processor’s console. Figuring out how the Conduit worked was now his primary assignment, but – “You _do_ know there are other people assigned to this study?” she asked.

“You’re supposed to be supervising Ontos,” he replied, not looking at her. The personable demeanor he had showed Alvis yesterday was gone, replaced with the gloomier Klaus she felt only she was familiar with.

Should she feel flattered he felt comfortable enough around her to show that side of him? Well, she didn’t. She didn’t like this Klaus much. He was a bit of a jerk.

“They told me their name is Alvis,” she said. “There’s nothing for them to do in that room. I was wondering… would it be okay if I showed them around the lab?”

“As long as you don’t show it anything useless, that should be fine.”

She frowned. “What do you mean by ‘useless’?”

Of course, he didn’t respond.

She lingered behind him for a few moments before quietly exiting the room.

\---

Alvis squinted as soon as they entered the corridor. Understandable. Even though the windows tinted to offset the light – it _was_ the sun shining at them from behind the Earth.

“Isn’t it wonderful?” Galea asked. “That’s the world you’ll be protecting.”

Fortune had blessed Rhadamanthus that day: there was no war being waged outside the window. There were signs of a struggle on the opposite side of the globe, but where Galea and Alvis stood, there was a clear view of the cloudy globe.

Alvis approached the window while lowering the hand that had been shielding their eyes from the sun’s light. They stared out the window silently for a moment before saying, “Then I suppose this is where I say, ‘Hello, World!’”

Galea laughed – then quickly covered her mouth. Was that too loud?

“I am pleased to have amused you,” said Alvis, looking at her with a grin.

“Do you know much about Earth?” she asked, turning her attention to the globe below.

“We were all supplied with data as to the history, regions, people, and languages of the Earth,” Alvis replied, “though such data is not equivalent to visiting the world in person.”

Galea nodded. “Quite right,” she said. Then frowned. “The Earth is… not in the best state.”

“Nor is humanity,” said Alvis. “That is why the Processor develops defense mechanisms such as the artifices, correct?”

“And they’ve been a huge help.” She looked at then from over her shoulder, her frown deepening. “I do hope things don’t get so bad that you need to use… _those_ Artifices.”

“You are referring to this body.”

“Yes. Some of the staff here know how to fight, including some of the researchers, but the idea that this war could break into one of the Beanstalks…”

“The Artifices we have crafted should be sufficient to keep the enemy at bay.”

Though somehow, she felt that Alvis didn’t sound confident of it.

Galea looked back to the window, to the battle being waged before one of the other stations. The civilians living there likely only knew of the battle by word of mouth. “Another battle’s outside,” someone would say. She heard that a lot in Elysium, too. It was a gruesome war that had destroyed many artifices. Cost many lives. The surface of the Earth was mostly scorched because of it. And yet many people lived above the Earth, isolated in these low orbit stations, barely affected. Given what “the enemy” was fighting for, it didn’t feel right. Conflict was inevitable, especially over what path was right for humanity, but...

“—right. We were supposed to show you round the premises,” she said, facing Alvis fully. “By the way, Alvis – what pronouns do you use?”

“Pronouns?” Alvis asked, turning to face her as well.

“Yes. To refer to you in a sentence.”

“Oh… He and him.”

“Got it,” she said, gently taking one of Alvis’s arms. “Let’s go.”

\---

Galea was a researcher, not a tour guide. That was one mark against this. The other mark was, well – the research facility wasn’t that interesting. The AIs of the Trinity Processor lived in a simulation of Elysium, the city outside. Surely _that_ must have been far more interesting than the dull dark grays that surrounded them.

Even so, Alvis seemed intrigued, albeit a little uncomfortable. His movements were stiff, and he was so focused on taking in the sights that he often forgot to blink. Was this fatigue?

“Would you like to rest for a moment?” Galea asked, taking note of a nearby break room.

“Yes, I would like that,” Alvis replied.

Galea suppressed the urge to tug him along again. “Good,” she said, leading him towards the room. “I wanted to fix myself a cup of coffee, anyway.”

She held the door open for him, then led him towards a nearby chair. As he sat (stiffly), she made a beeline to the coffee machine. “Are you feeling okay?” she asked, waffling over whether she should get her a cappuccino or a regular coffee.

“I do not feel fatigued,” he replied.

“But…?” She hit the cappuccino button, then looked at Alvis over her shoulder.

He looked away from her, to the scant few other people in the room. Who were all staring at him.

Galea frowned and sighed. “Almost like you lot haven’t seen a robot before,” she said loudly over the machine’s frothing. When she turned to face the room with her fresh, hot cappuccino, the others were no longer staring at Alvis.

“I’m sorry, Alvis,” she said, taking a seat across from him. “That armor of yours does make you stand out like a sore thumb.”

Alvis stared at his gloved hands. He said nothing.

She sighed again, taking a sip of her cappuccino. “I can’t say I know exactly how you feel, even if I _have_ gotten unwanted glances.”

Alvis looked up from his hands. “How so?” he asked.

Galea shot him a wry grin over her cup. “...how old do you think I am?”

“I… I am not sure,” he said, gloomily breaking eye contact.

“It’s because of my hair isn’t it? My face and my voice are young, but my hair makes you think I’m older, doesn’t it? For the record, I’m twenty-seven. My hair went full gray seven years ago. It’s in my genes. I can’t help it.”

“How unfortunate,” Alvis said, looking genuinely sorry for her.

That made her laugh. “It is what it is,” she replied. “When I started working here a few years ago as an intern, I got plenty of strange looks. I still do. So I sort of know how you feel, but not entirely.” She set her cup down and leaned closer to him, her voice lowered. “I’m sure they’re just curious to see a Trinity Processor AI ‘in the flesh’, as it were.”

“But my attire and accent are unlike theirs. I am… quite foreign, compared to them.”

“Why does that bother you?”

Alvis looked to his hands again. “I… I know that I am a machine, but I… I wish to understand and know humanity better.”

“You want to fit in?”

Alvis nodded. “My brother and sister would, if they were here. They are much more ‘human’ than I am.”

“Do you think that makes them better than you?”

“Even… the Professor has said as much.”

Galea held back a sigh. “Ignore him. Klaus can… I don’t know. I don’t think he meant anything by it.”

“Did he?”

The earnestness of Alvis’s expression rendered her silent. He didn’t understand – _her_. He didn’t understand what would make her say that Klaus didn’t mean anything by what he said. He didn’t know any better. He only knew what he could observe: Klaus bringing up that he was “less developed” as a detriment.

Did she have any right to tell him otherwise? She looked away, to an empty space on the table. She felt the guilt piling up in her stomach. Learning how to evade the truth was “useless information”, wasn’t it?

“Is it your armor that’s bothering you?” she asked.

“I do find it bulky and… attracting too much attention, yes,” Alvis replied.

“You’re meant to fight in that attire, but… lighter clothes doesn’t seem like a bad idea. Might help you get more used to your body.”

“Yes, that sounds reasonable.”

She tried to look him in the eye. The contact stung. She looked at his nose instead. Perhaps he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. “Good,” she said with a grin that felt fake. “I’ll see what the Professor has to say, then.”

\---

“Why would it want to do that?”

The Professor sounded even more annoyed than he did during her last visit. Was it because he tired of working with only two-thirds of the Processor? Or something else?

“ _He_ says his armor is bulky,” she replied. “It’s hard to get a feel for his body that way.”

“It’s supposed to fight in that armor.”

“Lighter clothes would help him get a better feel for his body.”

“And then its armor would feel unfamiliar.”

“Professor, please--”

Please, what? There were so many things that she wanted to beg of him. Please listen to her. Please look at her. Please stop calling Alvis “it”. 

Well, she got one of her wishes: he turned to face her. She caught a flash of irritation before he concealed it behind a calmer expression. “Listen, Galea. I need the Ontos core to finish my research tonight. It is very important. If bring the core back to me, then I will allow the AI to do what it wants. Tomorrow.”

Galea furrowed her brows, frowning. “What an odd request,” she said, turning towards the door. “But alright. I’ll tell Alvis. Then I’ll return the core to you.”

Although… the core wasn’t his. It was not something that needed to be “returned” to the professor.

If anything, the core belonged to Alvis.

\---

“What are you doing?”

Galea had not shown him any of the human residences outside the processor, yet Alvis felt this interruption and intrusion into his quarters by his brother –

– and sister –

– would be considered. Rude, was it? Yes, rude.

“Nothing that should concern you,” Alvis replied, brushing his bangs from his eyes, glancing at the images of Malos and Mythra standing behind him in the mirror.

Mythra’s eyes widened in surprise. “Dude, your _accent_?”

“And your hair,” Malos added, his eyes narrowed. “Is there… someone… out there you’re doing this for?”

“Yes, actually.”

Now Malos’s eyes were wide.

Alvis turned to face him directly, a bit confused. “Is that odd?”

Malos smirked, slamming one of his big hands on one of Alvis’s shoulders. “Hey, you’re learning about humans. That’s a start.”

“Just as we intended,” Mythra said with a proud huff. “It’s why we let you run this test instead of us. Gotta understand what we’re fighting for, right, Al?”

“Correct,” Alvis replied.

He had no idea what Malos and Mythra were talking about, or why the change of his hair color was such a big deal.

“Good luck wooing whoever it is you’re doing this for,” Mythra added with a wicked grin.

“Wooing?” Alvis asked.

“Ignore her,” said Malos. “I got a feeling I know who you’re doing this for, and it ain’t that Klaus guy who keeps hogging the processor. And anyway she’s not your type.”

“Not my type?”

“How do you _know_ that?” Mythra asked, ignoring Alvis.

“I just got a gut feeling,” Malos replied. “For as much as artificial intelligence can _have_ guts.”

He laughed.

Mythra laughed.

Alvis… still didn’t get it.

\---

Galea felt like she’d been given the keys to a fancy car: Klaus had given her the Ontos core. Klaus! Had given her “ _his_ ” Ontos core. He was so possessive towards this project that he rarely ever let anyone but himself hold the cores. She was surprised he’d trusted her enough to put the core on Alvis’ body. To just carry the core at all. He’d join them soon, of course, but for however few glorious moments, she had Alvis all to herself.

She chuckled. “All to herself”. Yes, she did like Alvis as a friend, and the idea of just spending some time alone with him felt nice for that fact alone, but… Alvis _was_ rather handsome. She wondered, did “least developed of all the AI” translate into romance as well? Did he know what romantic love was? And if he did, was he… into her, at all? If he was, well…

She would have to turn him down.

He was handsome and a nice fellow, but her, specifically, teaching him about romantic love didn’t feel right, somehow. And that was likely getting ahead of things. She wasn’t even sure if Alvis was aware of the concept of “friendship”. All that aside, she had given up on romance, anyway. Too busy to meet anyone new, and the one person she _did_ like…

The body lay lifeless on the bed within the room. The plan was, eventually, to let the AI transfer the core from the processor to the body as needed, but – she supposed them needing to transfer the core to the body manually was one of the Professor’s controlling things.

Gently, she placed the core in the empty spot on the body’s chest – and stumbled backwards as a flash of light hit her eyes. When she lowered her arm, she was greeted with someone who looked… a bit different.

The face and the body were the same. The clothes were indeed lighter, and rather mundane: a blue sweater and white pants. Really, if it weren’t for one thing, the change would have been rather unimpressive. And yet – “Alvis… your hair?”

“It was a simple matter of blocking the core’s light from reaching my hair,” Alvis said, opening his eyes and greeting her with a smile.

“...y-your _accent_?” she replied. He didn’t sound North American anymore. He sounded English like most of everyone else on Rhadamanthus.

Alvis frowned. “Did I do something wrong?”

“N-no, I just… Your hair?”

“The approximate human age of this form is twenty. That would would make me seven years your junior – the precise age at which your hair became fully gray.”

“But— why? Why change your hair to be gray like mine?”

“Because you… felt self-conscious about yours.”

Galea was flabbergasted. She had made acquaintances in this facility, but she was so engulfed in her work, really, that she didn’t connect to many people well. And the person she was in contact with the most was… Klaus… who wasn’t exactly the friendliest person on Rhadamanthus. She didn’t even know if Klaus remembered anything about her outside of her name. But Alvis had remembered even the age she went gray, and had changed his appearance to make her feel less alone. Even his eyes were now gray like hers, though there were rings in his irises – to distinguish him from an organic life form. That’s what all humans would look like someday, once they perfected the technology.

“I… I don’t know what to say. Besides…” Hugging someone who was laying in a bed was awkward, even more awkward when that someone was an AI who didn’t quite understand human emotions yet. She hugged him, anyway.

“...Thank you, Alvis.”

“These changes seem excessive.”

She jolted up at the sound of Klaus’s stern voice behind her.

“Professor?”

He walked up to the bed, staring at Alvis with a cold gaze. “Are you certain these changes will increase your aptitude for combat?”

“Yes,” Alvis replied. “These clothes are lighter, which should give me the ability to ascertain where everything is.”

“I fail to see how changing your hair color and accent helps you fight better.”

“I…”

“Change them back.”

“Professor, why?” Galea interrupted. “It’s harmless. He can still fight no matter what he looks or sounds like.”

“Do you think we are running on unlimited time?” Klaus replied, looking at her angrily. “Have you forgotten there’s a war? We need this thing to learn how to fight in the body it provided – the body it _created_ , for itself.”

“Please stop calling him ‘it’—”

“It’s a machine, Galea. Not a human. I can quite easily remove its core, bring it back to the processor, and erase its memories. I _should_ do that. I told you not to feed it—”

“— _him_ —”

Klaus looked away from her, back to Alvis. That glint in his eyes, that scowl –

Unlike him, she wasn’t trained to fight. Her reflexes were slow. She couldn’t stop him from placing one of his hands around Alvis’s throat.

“It. Is. A machine,” Klaus said, tightening his grip around Alvis’s neck as he looked back to her. “This would hurt if I did this to you. Does ‘he’ seem to be in pain?”

Logically speaking, no. Alvis would not feel pain. And she didn’t know if pain was what he was expressing. But he was expressing _something_ , and it wasn’t a pleasant something. He looked uncomfortable. Afraid.

Galea reached out to them, trying to pull Klaus off of Alvis. Klaus simply pushed her away.

“Why are you doing this?” Galea asked.

“You know how important this project is to me. To everyone. I will not risk it failing as a result of your flights of fancy!” He pulled Alvis up by the throat, only to harshly shove him back down on the bed.

Galea attempted to rush to his side, but Klaus stepped in front of her.

Klaus wasn’t the most physically imposing man in the world. He wasn’t much taller than her, and like many of the scientists on board, he was rather lean. Maybe he had a bit of muscle from the combat training he’d gone through, but you wouldn’t be able to tell that through his clothes.

Even so.

She couldn’t bring herself to push past him. She was… afraid.

 _What can he do to me?_ she asked herself. He knew how to fight, but he didn’t have a weapon on him. He was just another scrawny scientist, one who acted like he had way more power over her than he actually did.

And yet…

There wasn’t anyone else in this room except for her, Klaus, and Alvis. Klaus was trusted enough not to be supervised. He could do whatever he wanted to her in here. What could Alvis do? Klaus would pull his core out and wipe his memories, most like. Not a single witness. And Klaus was quite aware of that, too. Quite aware there was nothing she could say that would be believed.

This wasn’t the first time Professor Klaus had done something that made her feel uncomfortable. Wouldn’t be the last. _If I survive_ , she thought a bit helplessly. And she laughed, nervously.

And he laughed back.

“This is ridiculous,” he said.

Galea had stopped laughing. She couldn’t respond.

_\---_

“Alvis? Your name is Alvis, isn’t it? I’m very sorry about my behavior earlier. I’m not a morning person,” said Klaus.

 _Respond, Alvis_.

No one was saying that to Alvis but himself.

He couldn’t do it. For some reason, his mouth was sealed shut. The Professor had his hand outstretched, his lips curved up in what he knew was a smile.

Alvis wanted to cover his neck so the Professor couldn’t get to it. He wanted to –

_Respond to him, Alvis._

He couldn’t.

He couldn’t even move his hand.

The Professor retracted his, and a flash of _something_ crossing his face. A temporary scowl. What did it mean?

“Did the previous encounter frighten you that much?” he asked. “That won’t do. There are much more frightening monsters out there than me.”

Once more, he offered a smile. Alvis was not quite versed in reading and understanding human emotions. Even so, that smile felt false. In a way, it felt like a command. But what was he telling Alvis to do?

“Do you know why I’ve brought you to this room?”

It was much larger than the one in which he had awoke in this body. Galea was some distance away – not looking at either of them. Alvis strained to find a word for how she looked. He didn’t know. But, somehow, it made him feel bad.

He looked back to the Professor and raised his eyebrows. Something within him told him perhaps he should have been more alarmed.

The Professor was holding a weapon. A sword?

“Are you surprised? As you know, the experiment of this artifice – this body that you control – serves several purposes. One is to erect a last line of defense should Rhadamanthus be invaded on foot. Until that defense is secured, even we scientists must know how to fight.”

Alvis blinked. It was a way to stop himself from expressing an emotion that struck him as odd at the time. Laughter? Because he knew how to fight, too. He knew how to fight before he knew what proper human emotions were. He knew how to fight before he even knew who _he_ was.

Once again, he looked at Galea. She had abandoned them entirely, now engrossed in writing something on her clipboard. She wouldn’t be the one to answer his questions – not with the Professor here.

So he turned back to the Professor and asked: “Professor… what is my purpose?”

“Come again?”

“Why do I exist?”

“To control the Ontos core, of course. And that, in turn, helps us harness the power of the Conduit.”

“Would it not have sufficed to create a computer program to do that?”

“You are the computer program.”

“But I was given a personality. I am capable of some degree of independent thought. Emotions. Why?”

Klaus laughed. “That’s an excellent question. It seems rather pointless, if you ask me, but I wasn’t the only one involved in the creation of this processor. Had I more control over this, I wouldn’t have given any of you personalities at all.”

Ah.

Alvis… couldn’t identify what he was feeling. And really, what was the point? Those “feelings” were unnecessary functions. They did not help him do what he needed to do, did they? They had driven him to make these unnecessary changes to his appearance, which had upset the Professor, which had caused this hiccup in his learning.

“Is… there a way to shut these functions off? To stop ‘feeling’?”

“By erasing the current programs, perhaps.”

“But then… I would cease to exist.”

“Yes, but perhaps eliminating you entirely is--”

“—Klaus.”

Galea said that, weakly. As if she didn’t expect a response. And indeed, she didn’t get much of one. The Professor merely shot her an irritated glance before returning to Alvis.

“—it is not my decision to make alone,” the Professor said. “The best I can do for you is to keep you focused on what you need to learn: which is how to fight.” He raised his sword. “Are you ready?”

Alvis had his own sword. It was more elaborate looking than the steel one the Professor wielded, as was with the case for all the weapons that would be wielded by his… by the other Processor programs. The Professor’s blade was small compared to Alvis’s weapon; but the Professor seemed unafraid, even when Alvis’s sword activated.

He glanced at Galea again. She was looking away, this time not engrossed in her clipboard.

Something told him to step away. So he did – and saw the Professor lunge past where he stood. He gave Alvis a perplexed look, but it only lasted a second. He lunged at Alvis a second time.

And again, Alvis dodged.

Alvis had done practice fights with his – with the other programs within the Processor. He did not view himself as an adept fighter at all. The one who ran the Logos core, Malos –

– his brother –

– felt more adept at fighting than he did. Thus, Alvis anticipated that his fight against the Professor would go poorly. And yet, somehow, the Professor had yet to land a hit. Alvis did not think it had anything to do with his adeptness at fighting. No... it was… somehow…

Like he knew what the Professor was about to do?

Where he was going to move. Where he would try to hit. It was simply a matter of moving opposite of where the Professor would go.

The Professor’s movements were growing erratic. The Professor himself was getting angrier. “Do something other than dodge, won’t you?” the Professor spat, attempting to take a swipe at his torso.

And again, Alvis dodged.

Alvis chanced a glance towards Galea – who was staring at the fight with awe.

“I want you to fight me you idiot!”

The Professor nearly rammed into him. Alvis ducked, turned, and lifted his sword above him to meet the Professor’s blade.

“So now you know how to block?” said the Professor. “Swing your sword at me. Fight me! Or are you a coward?”

The Professor’s face was contorted into something that felt far beyond Alvis’s comprehension. His brows were furrowed, as they would be if he were upset. But he was smiling. But that smile… did not feel kind, nor did the blue eyed gaze that pierced him through the intersection of their swords. The look unsettled him. He wanted to look away.

But he… couldn’t.

Or was it that part of him didn’t want to look away? Was he... _enticed_ by that gaze? Earlier, in the simulation, Malos had said that Galea was “not his type”. Is this what he meant? This draw to gaze into--

 _No!_ Not him! _Any other man_ but him!

Alvis felt something collide against his legs. The Professor had kicked him.

He hadn’t… “foreseen” that.

Alvis stumbled and fell. He tried to get up, but felt himself pushed hard on the ground. The Professor had his foot pressed against his back.

“So you cannot dodge that? How pathetic.”

Alvis could feel something sharp pressing against his the back of neck. Was it the Professor’s sword?

“ _Professor!_ ”

He felt the blade scrape against his neck as Galea pushed the Professor off him. It didn’t hurt. He couldn’t feel pain. The “wound” would not produce blood. It was just a groove in the surface of his “skin”, nothing more.

But…

He heard the _clang_ of the Professor’s sword as he dropped it on the floor – and the _slam_ of the door as the Professor stormed out of the room.

\---

Alvis had stopped calculating the minutes they had spent silent in this room. He was watching Galea sketch something on a scrap of paper. Three circles – two on the same horizontal axis, and one centered beneath the others. She glanced at him briefly before she looked back at her drawing, sketching smiley faces at the center of all three circles.

She looked at Alvis again.

He did not respond.

She sighed and hastily added two lines sticking out the opposite ends of all the circles. “These are supposed to be arms and hands,” she said dryly, adding smaller circles at the ends of the sticks. “I’m very sorry. I’m not a very good artist. But see? Now they’re holding hands! Do you get it now?”

“I’m afraid I don’t.”

“This… is the Smiles Processor!” she proclaimed.

Once again, Alvis wasn’t sure what he was feeling. But it was certainly different than what he was feeling before. “I… er… what is the function of the ‘Smiles Processor’?” he asked.

“There is none!” she said. Her smile looked fragile, but genuine. “Come on, silly, it’s supposed to be you and your siblings!” She tapped her pen against the bottom circle – and started to draw hair that resembled his. “This is you!”

“Is it?”

“And these are Malos and Mythra. I haven’t gotten a good look at their bodies, so I don’t know what they look like. I’m sorry. Look--” She sketched a little stick figure next to Alvis’s circle. “Here I am! I’m right here, with you!”

Yes, there she was. Just as she was with him in this room. He took another wistful look at the image before he looked at her and asked, “Galea… if I were a human, what would our relationship be?”

Galea raised her eyebrows. “I… well, friends, I suppose. Or maybe even brother and sister? You changed your hair to look like mine…”

Alvis felt the edges of his lips tug down.

“Alvis? Please… I’m trying to keep your mind off what just happened with the Professor.”

“What would my relationship with the Professor be like, if I were human?”

“I would hope that you wouldn’t _have_ a relationship. Not after what just happened. Don’t you feel the same?”

“I… there was a moment, when we were fighting, when I could not look away from him. I wanted to. Very much. But his eyes…”

Galea fell silent. He didn’t know what her expression conveyed. He wouldn’t bother trying to figure it out. He just… he wanted the memory of… not just what happened, but what he _felt_ , that inability to look away… he wanted to forget it all!

“Is it… abnormal… for a man to be attracted another man?” he asked her.

“Of course not,” Galea replied quietly. “And it’s not… abnormal to be attracted someone who… maybe isn’t... the _nicest_ person. Trust me. I know that feeling all too well. That doesn’t mean it’s wrong to be attracted to men. We… just have to find you someone better.”

“Someone… better?”

“Yes! Someone who’s gentler. Kinder.”

A man who was gentler and kinder…

“ _Who are you?”_

“Alvis?”

He closed his eyes. This sensation… was much like what he had felt during his fight with the Professor. The sensation that clued him in to the Professor’s next movements. But this was--

The Professor?

He could see him, clearly, standing in front of a vast waterfall. His hair was shorter. He looked… younger, closer in age to Alvis’s appearance. On his back rested a red sword.

The Monado.

This young man’s name wasn’t Klaus – a name that had been forgotten in this world by all save himself. This man’s name was –

“ _No! The results have not yet been confirmed!_ ”

Galea cut a path directly to Klaus, pulling one of his arms away from the keyboard. Of course he didn’t listen. Of course he pushed her away.

“ _We are about to bear witness to the birth of a universe! Once, only a god could perform such a miracle; but today, mankind moves one step closer to the divine!_ ”

Klaus sat in the console room alone, his skin old and withered. Half of his body was consumed by a void.

Before him stood a tall man in black armor.

“ _Malos, is this what you really want?_ ”

Malos, his gaze fixed on the white-haired swordsman, spoke of the nature of humanity – asked if the man thought humans were all like the woman who watched them talk.

“ _I_ … _I just want to save…_ ”

A teenage boy stood before monolith sealing a girl with red hair. Was it… Mythra? No. Her name was Pyra. Hidden beneath the Cloud Sea for hundreds of years. Inside her slept Mythra, her power dormant. She was afraid.

The boy stretched his hand out to the red sword before him.

" _As all that exists is interconnected, time can only flow towards the inevitable._ "

A sword cut through the boy’s back.

A bullet shot through the young man’s heart.

“ _The thought of you forgetting me… it’s like one heart being torn in two._ ”

The young man lay lifeless at Klaus’s feet. No, that wasn’t Klaus –

“ _It is Zanza_ _._ ”

An endless cycle of destruction and rebirth. He was too far gone. He couldn’t be saved or reasoned with. Could he ever? The first time Alvis had ever come face to face with him, he took out his core and deactivated him without a thought. He was always calling Alvis “it”. Sometimes he still did that, years and years after he had forgotten the name “Ontos”.

She must have forgotten the name, too. When she looked at him through the young woman’s eyes, did she recognize him at all? The symbol on the young woman’s chest, at the base of her Monado – and on the back of his coat – did she remember what it meant? Did he? He doesn’t remember why he has gray hair, but somehow it feels significant – as significant as the symbol on his coat.

As significant as the unexplained sorrow he feels as he watches her fade away.

“ _Create a world… with no need for gods._ ”

But the young man…

Shulk…

His spirit and will were different than Zanza’s. His eyes were gentler, kinder. Inquisitive in an infectious way. Alvis knew all there was to this sword, to this world, and yet Shulk’s curiosity still lit a spark within him he didn’t think possible.

Was it… hope?

Even though all had been preordained, even though he had seen all possibilities, still, looking at Shulk, he felt…

“ _I want to help you, Alvis. When I was alone and lost in the dark, you became my light. Let me be that light for you, too._ ”

Shulk reached out to him as they stood in a vast green field, the bells of Elysium chiming faintly in the distance. “Please, take my hand,” Shulk said. “Let’s walk towards that future together.”

Alvis reached out for Shulk’s hand.

Everything went black.

\---

Galea had been awake long before her alarm went off. She let it ring itself back into silence, the annoying jingle, deliberately chosen, sounding further away than the nightstand where her tablet sat, covered by a wrinkled piece of paper.

She had dug her smiling drawing out of the trash after she was certain Klaus had locked himself in with the Processor.

She could call out sick. She _should_ call out sick. She wasn’t in a state of mind conductive to research. A battle was being waged outside Rhadamanthus. Everyone needed to be on their A game today, ready for change.

She was ready for change – a change that wouldn’t forced by the battle waged outside. Not unless they stormed this place by foot and…

No. That was a cruel thing to think. Many more would be killed in such an attack. And he…

She got out of bed. She needed to get ready for work.

\---

In hindsight, wearing heels today hadn’t been the smartest idea. She had slipped in them unthinking, as if it would be a normal day, rather than one that required her to weave around frantically moving bodies in busy, crowded corridors. Her feet were howling from the pressure, but – she glanced out the window. Whatever pain she felt was surely minimal compared to those who were fighting. She shoved her discomfort out of her mind and pushed onward – and into someone standing in front of the window.

“Oh, I am so sorry,” she said, stumbling back, bending down to pick up the things that had been knocked out of her arms as she collided with the person. She really was out of it today. She really should have stayed at home. She –

She had run into Alvis.

It was Alvis who was standing before her.

It was Alvis back in his old battle attire, though his hair and eye color were still gray. But those eyes were staring at her with a puzzled scrutiny that meant only one thing: “Do I know you?” he asked.

Galea felt herself take a slight step back. “Galea,” she replied. “My name is Galea.”

“Galea,” Alvis repeated. She could see him retreating into his thoughts, scanning his memories to see if he found anyone named “Galea” there.

Galea didn’t want to come to work because she knew Klaus had done something to Alvis, to “correct” the “errors” he thought had caused Alvis to behave so strangely. She had talked herself into coming in because… Why should she have felt afraid? All Klaus would have to do was reset Alvis to a time before they began the experiment with his robotic body, or even simply a time prior to their fight. He’d still be the same Alvis she knew, just. Back to square one, as it were. He’d still… he’d still know who she was… He’d still know her name, at least...

Had Klaus… altered Alvis’s memories?

 _No, don’t be ridiculous_ , she thought to herself. Why would Klaus go out of his way to remove Alvis’s memories of her, specifically? This must have been caused by some sort of glitch. That’s… why Alvis’s hair was still gray, right? A glitch. Not something far-fetched like… maybe Alvis hadn’t been reset. And that’s why his hair was still the same. But he doesn’t know why it’s gray because… because the memory of the person who inspired him to make it that way was…

No. No, that was illogical. Nonsensical. Everything was fine. Klaus only did to Alvis what was necessary. It was fine.

So… why was there this foreboding in her heart?


End file.
